An articulated vehicle saddled with a 20ft container has fallen on a commercial bus in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos State, crushing no fewer than eleven passengers to death, Africa Today News, New York has gathered.
Preliminary investigations showed that the commercial bus in question was picking up passengers at the bus stop along the Ojuelegba Bridge when the vehicle lost control and fell over the side of the bridge.
Early responders at the scene of the incident were the officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) who suspended the container and cut off the top of the bus to rescue a woman and take her to the trauma centre.
Meanwhile, LASEMA Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident to reporters on Monday morning.
He explained that the nine victims recovered comprised four adult males, three adult females, a girl child, and a boy child.
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The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) also issued a terse statement confirming the accident.
According to the agency, efforts are being made to rescue the victims.
‘A container laden truck has fallen on a bus at Ojuelegba, inwards Fadeyi. The effort is currently being made towards rescue and evacuation,’ the statement read.
‘Recovery of the fallen container is still ongoing, though it has been taken off on top of the minibus but is yet to be completely removed from the location, traffic is still on hold, and we have a backlog of traffic presently at Alaka.
‘Kindly exercise patience or find an alternative if you are not trapped in the traffic.’
It was gathered that some passengers were trapped because of the incident.
An eyewitness who spoke to reporters stated that the truck driver wanted to block the bus from overtaking him.